To Skip and not Fall
by josephineb
Summary: Christine Chapel's managed to go a month on board the Enterprise without any major disasters - but James Kirk is about to make his first trip to her sickbay, which means all bets are probably off. Sequel to 'the gravity of solid ground'
1. To skip

**A/N: **_hey everyone! Back again with more Christine, and little Kirk, too. This is the sequel to my first Christine fic, **The Gravity of Solid Ground**, but unlike that story this one is a chaptered fic. This first chapter is in Christine's POV, and the next chapter will be in Kirk's. There are three secondary female characters introduced in this fic - Helen Noel, Tonia Barrows, and Janice Rand - these are NOT oc's: they are characters from TOS and have (for most intents and purposes) retained their original jobs. I don't own them or anything else you recognize! Anyways, enjoy this next installment. _

**NOTE:**_ While I'm using names from TOS (Christine Chapel for instance), this story is NOT an original star trek fiction. I make no references to events that happened in TOS, and don't claim that this story is in any way in character with the original series. This story is based on the REBOOT, where the characters of Christine Chapel, Tonia Barrows, Janice Rand, and Helen Noel have NOT yet made an appearance. How these characters were in TOS has no bearing on this story. __So if you're a TOS purist, there's a good chance you might not enjoy this story. This isn't meant to be rude or anything of the sort, but I understand that a lot of readers like to have this information at the get go, so they can decide to read or not.  
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_**Chapter 1:  
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_**To Skip **_**_  
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Christine wakes up to the sound of some 20th century pop song blaring in her ears. The tune is light and upbeat, and even as she struggles against waking up she can feel her chin bobbing traitorously to the beat, her toes flexing in time to the melody.

"_Sun's up, it's a little after twelve, make breakfast for myself, leave the work for someone else..."_

She burrows deeper into the covers on her bed for just a minute, soaking up the last vestiges of warmth that she can. Here in this cocoon of blankets she can pretend like it's not ten after five in the morning with a shift that starts in almost an hour.

"_People say, they say that it's just a phase, they tell me to act my age, well I am..."_

The song is completely mundane but it makes her want to move, which is really what she needs this early in the morning. Plus it's not like anyone's here to criticise her taste in music, so whatever.

"Computer..." she says, not really knowing what she wants it to do yet. "Stop music."

The music stops, as directed, but it's not right. Christine scrunches her nose and rubs her hands up and down her face. "Computer...play music, repeat previous playlist on forty percent volume." The music starts again, but this time it's not so loud that she can't concentrate.

_That's better._

Christine walks into her little bathroom and takes a shower, letting the computer turn the temperature of the water up to nearly scalding. Something she's found while she's been on board is that she gets cold very easily. It's probably irrational – after all, the ship's temperature is set at a comfortable level all the time. But there's just something about being out here in space that seems to chill her more than usual. The song now playing wafts through the steamy air of the bathroom and she hums along merrily as she shampoos her hair.

"_up town girl, she's been livin' in her up town world, I bet she never had a backstreet guy, I bet her mama never told her why..."_

Christine was never a heavy make up or jewelery girl – the makeup would be all smudged off by the end of her shift anyways, and if she tried to wear the dangly and ostentatious jewelery that _Janice_ wore on _her _shifts, McCoy'd be on her so fast it'd make her head spin. One time, in her first week, one of the younger nursing cadets had worn a pearl necklace on top of her uniform and the Chief had _exploded_.

"_Look here missy, this is sickbay not a damn beauty pageant!" _The girl had run crying from the room.

Since then Christine hadn't worn any jewelery on her shifts except her simple silver stud earrings.

So the shower ended up being the only way she could really pamper herself, and she made sure to spend just a little extra time in it each day. It was just in the little things – her _Tanzania jasmine_ scented shampoo and conditioner for instance, and the slightly more expensive razor that she brought with her in bulk because it had a special moisturizing tip that really did wonders and a little sensor that let her know if she was going to nick herself.

Like she said – the little things.

As she finished washing up, she stared longingly for a minute at the now turned off shower head. It's removable with a deep massage setting, and it's the best shower head Christine's _ever_ had. It's proven to be an extremely efficient stress reliever so far.

And Christine has a _lot_ of stress.

"_breathe on me, oh baby just, breeeeeathhhhe onnnnnn meeeeee, we don't need to touch, just...breeeaaatthheeee..."_

Oh god, just _looking_ at it has her on edge, (and that damn song isn't helping matters either) clenching her thighs together to relieve some of the pressure that's building just underneath her bellybutton. Ugh, she doesn't have _time_ for that now! She swallows once – hard – and leaves the shower with one final look at that shower head. Maybe she'd name it.

_Whoa_, she thought, stopping. _Or maybe not_. That would be kind of creepy. She wonders to herself if maybe that's sad – that she's having all her sexual needs fulfilled by a shower head instead of a man - but quickly dismisses the thought. She isn't quite ready yet to start dating again...not so soon after Roger, and not so soon after the death of her father. She still feels vulnerable, like some part of her heart is still gaping; still hasn't healed yet. So for now, the shower head would have to do.

She blow dries her hair quickly, combing it so that the shoulder length strands flip and swish around her face prettily, one slightly shorter swathe of hair falling diagonally in a long bang across her left eye. Then she moves to her closet and pulls out a fresh uniform. She shimmies quickly into the black under dress and then the navy blue over dress. The skirt hits her at mid thigh and even after a month she's not _quite_ used to how it's just a little bit shorter than she's used to. Christine's never been the sort of girl you'd call a prude – but still, this was kind of ridiculous.

She walks back into the bathroom and swiftly runs through her makeup routine. Brush teeth, check. Moisturizer, check. Mascara, check. Blush, check. Lip gloss, check. She pockets the lip gloss - this one is really good, because it makes your breath smell good at the same time. Not that her breath usually smells bad, or anything, but sometimes you needed to get up close and personal with the patients and it was just better to be prepared.

Also, Christine's always had a habit of biting her bottom lip, and on the off chance that it starts to bleed the lip gloss will make it less noticeable.

She walks back out into her quarters and pulls on knee high black socks and then her knee high black boots. She grabs her communicator and affixes it to her shirt, and looks in the mirror once more. The music is still playing, some kind of disco-ish dance number...

"_I know your name, I got your number, I know your game, and now I wonder..."_

It makes her feel a little sassy, and she does a little head tilt, posing just a tiny bit. She looks nice. Neat and sweet. Pretty. Professional.

"Computer, stop music," she calls out as she grabs her bag. A lot of the cadets tease her about bringing it, but when you spend as much time in sickbay as she does, it gets tiring to have to go back and forth from floor to floor just to grab something. She's got her water container in it, and her PADD (with books uploaded onto it so she can read during downtime and pretend she's doing research or something like that – the Chief doesn't really care as long as she's quiet), and she'll grab an energy bar from the mess before she heads down.

Oh, and her sweater.

She leaves the room with almost twenty minutes until her shift, like usual, and heads to the lift.

It's been a month since she's been on the Enterprise now and all of this is part of the routine she's re-established, just one part of the process of putting her life back together, piece by piece.

Helen's waiting for her at the lift, and the brunette smiles as Christine approaches.

"Hey Christie," she says, her voice strong and pleasant.

"Hey Helen – ready to get back to the grind?" Christine asks, referring to the fact that Helen's had three (count them – three – plus the weekend!) days of off time because she'd been putting in so many hours since the Narada's attack on the ship. She'd been one of the few surviving Doctor's of the attack and had worked like a devil in her rehabilitation efforts to get the crew back in ship shape.

Helen Noel was the ship's physical therapist, studying under Doctor McCoy. She also had a background in psychiatry, and sometimes counseled crew members when Doctor Manji (the ship's psychiatrist) had a full roster. She was a tall, attractive, athletic brunette, just one or two years older than Christine, and since they both worked under Dr. McCoy in sickbay they had become fast friends. She was a steady, dependable girl with a dry wit who gave great advice and was easy to talk to.

"Ugh – don't remind me," she half moaned, rolling her eyes to the ceiling. "I slept in till two in the afternoon yesterday!" she exclaimed. "This morning I woke up at four AM and needed to stand under a freezing cold shower for ten minutes just to wake myself _up_," she deadpanned, her expression indicating that she was wholly unimpressed with the morning's activities.

"You'll get used to it again soon enough," Christine soothed, her melodic and softer voice a contrast to Helen's stronger, fuller tones. "Especially with the way the Chief is setting up the schedules. He's on a rampage and it doesn't look like it's gonna end soon."

Helen rolled her eyes again. "The whole thing is ridiculous – so TWO of the cadets were late to their shifts – so what? Why does he have to punish ALL of us just because THEY never learned to tell time? Having to come in two hours earlier for my regular shift doesn't make me want to work any harder, it just makes me want to throw up all over somebody." The two girls laughed and then realized that one of their group was missing –

"Hey," Christine started. "Where's-"

"_I'm coming, I'm coming! Wait wait wait!" _a voice called out from down the hall.

"-Tonia?"

"Twenty credits says that's her," Helen quipped, smirking.

A second later another girl rounded the corner in an uncoordinated run. She had one boot on and the other only half up her leg, and was struggling to pull and zip at the same time. Finally she managed it and jogged the rest of the way to the two girls.

"_Augh!_" she whooshed out in a large exhale. "So sorry about that ladies," she began, coming forward to give the two girls air kisses on their cheeks. "I had a houseguest who overstayed his welcome," she continued with a knowing smirk. Christine rolled her eyes good naturedly.

Tonia Barrows was the Chief's yeoman, and was head over heels in love with the older southern doctor. Christine couldn't really blame her – Doctor McCoy was a decidedly good looking man – but she guessed her auburn haired friend had to have a glutton for punishment with the way he went on shouting at her all the time.

"He's so frustrating!" She would complain to them when he left forms on his desk unsigned or refused to participate in any of the bureaucratic elements of the job, leaving Tonia to deal with them.

"I'm a Doctor, not a dancing bear!" she would mock in her throaty voice when the three of them were in Christine's larger quarters after a long day. Despite the fact that Doctor McCoy never gave any indication that he saw Tonia in that way, she continued to adamantly state her love for him to her two friends.

"If you love the Chief so much Tonia," Helen had asked her one day during their second week on board, "why do you sleep with so many crew members who AREN'T him?"

Far from being put off by the question, Tonia had answered, "what, and deprive myself? I happen to have a very active sexual appetite, and just because he's too stubborn to see what's in front of him doesn't mean I should have to suffer."

Well – Christine couldn't argue with that.

Despite some of Tonia's questionable sexual partners, she had become a good friend of Christine's. Bubbly and fun, she always seemed to know everything happening aboard the ship and who was involved, and was always up for a night of drinking or dancing, which was nice once in a while – even if it did have to happen in her quarters instead of in a club, and using replicated vodka tonics. Beggars couldn't be choosers, wasn't that the expression?

"mmmmm hmmm," Helen drawled out, amused and sarcastically.

"What?" Tonia asked innocently. "He really wouldn't leave!" Helen rolled her eyes to the ceiling once more before the lift chimed and opened its doors, allowing the three girls to step in.

Whilst inside, Tonia loped her arm through Christine's at the elbow and began chattering on about 'did you hear this latest piece of gossip about so and so,' and the like. While in the middle of that conversation, the doors of the lift opened to the mess, which was surprisingly full of people for the hour.

Christine furrowed her eyebrows, confused. There should _not_ be this many people in the mess – it was nowhere near regular breakfast hours, and the huge line that had formed for food was _not_ conducive to the fact that they needed to be in and out of there in ten minutes or less to make it to their shifts on time.

Tonia and Helen's mouths were wide open.

"Wha – what the hell is this??" Helen asked, her face doing a good impression of the crazed look Doctor McCoy was so well known for.

Christine had no clue, but was well aware that her own expression was beginning to mirror Helen's. If they didn't get to sickbay in the next ten minutes the Chief was going to _kill_ them – his 'no tolerance for lateness' policy extended to everyone, not just cadets. But they had to eat, though! Could Christine go a whole shift without food? Hmmm, well maybe, but they were already here...

"Oh god, it's like the engineering bay _exploded_ in here," Tonia complained, looking at all the red shirts in front of them busily walking about – their pale skin and frenzied movements were tell tales signs of what cadets sometimes called 'the engineer's madness'.

Suddenly a voice called out to them from amongst the din.

"Chapel! Hey Chapel!" Christine stood on her toes to try and get a better look at who it was that was calling her. She heard the voice again.

"Ugh – get out of my way, Colfer! I'm _trying_ to get through here, _hello_..."

Christine smiled – she'd recognize that frustrated voice anywhere. It was Nyota, barreling towards them with her ponytail swishing forcefully behind her. Finally she reached the three of them.

"Hey girls," she said. "Isn't this crazy? The engineers are having a day long conference on safety and regulation because somebody in the higher ups forgot to schedule it while we were grounded. It starts at quarter to seven, hence-" she swung her arm out to indicate the mass of people.

The three girls groaned simultaneously.

"Oh, great. That's just great," Helen moaned.

"Tell me about it. I've been touched by engineers in places I don't even want to _think_ about – it's like a mosh pit in there." Suddenly Uhura's name was called out by somebody to their left.

"Shit – sorry, I gotta go. We're running communications diagnostics all morning. Just push your way through – it's not so bad on the other side," she said, waving goodbye to them before walking off in a determined stride.

"Okay," Helen announced. "We're just gonna barrel through."

Christine grit her teeth. Why, of all days....

"lock elbows," she said, entwining her arms with Helen's and Tonia's. "Don't lose each other, got it?"

"Death by engineer," Tonia joked, and the three of them began to work their way through the crowd of people.

It took a couple minutes, but after some uncomfortable wading (and groping, gross!) they were on the other side of the mess, where the salad bar lay, along with fruits and the like – lighter food than the eggs and bacon all the engineers were clamoring for.

"Okay," Christine said. "Let's split up. Tonia grab fruit, Helen you grab energy bars, and I'll get....coffee. Sounds good?"

Before either of her two friends could answer her, Janice Rand and her 'slut brigade' as Tonia called them, sauntered by. Janice, dressed in her usual shorter than regulation uniform, heavy eye makeup and ridiculously ornate hair style looked the three of them up and down.

"Girls," she said, and then – "Chapel." _Ouch._ Tonia spoke for them. "Ladies," she said, her voice achingly sweet. And then, "Janice." Janice pursed her lips and kept on walking, her girlfriends following her, having said nothing. Christine felt Helen shiver beside her.

"Ugh, it's like whenever she walks by the smell of death and hairspray is unavoidable," she said. Christine wanted to laugh, but couldn't. Ever since she'd been on board the Enterprise, Janice Rand had had a dislike towards her. And Christine couldn't think of a single reason why.

"She hates me," Christine moaned – not because she wanted Janice to like her, but because it was exhausting having to participate in the blonde girls' dramafest.

"She only hates you because she's in love with the Captain and she knows he has a soft spot for you," Tonia said, shooting a look behind her at the retreating figures.

Christine rolled her eyes. "That's crazy," she said softly. "The Captain does _not_ have a soft spot for me. What does that even _mean_, '_soft spot_'-"

"Oh really?" Helen interrupted, her eyebrows raised incredulously. "How about when we're walking down the hall and he sees us – what does he do?" Tonia joined in, supplying the Captain's voice.

"He goes, 'ladies' in his usual voice, and then '..._Chapel',_" she demonstrated, making her voice lower, softer and smoother on Christine's name.

Christine couldn't help the bark of laughter that escaped her at that. "What!" she laughed out, swatting at Tonia. "He does _not_!"

"Does _to_-" Tonia was about to say when Helen interrupted. "Whoa! Okay girlies we need to move it – three minutes till shift. Let's grab our stuff and head out the south lift, kay?" Toni and Christine nodded, and the girls split up as previously stated.

Christine hurried over to the beverage dispensers, hearing her name called out by some of the engineers she knew in the process. She waved over her shoulder at whoever had said her name and then busily got to filling the cups with coffee. She made Helen's first (black, no sugar), Tonia's second (cream, two sugars), and hers-

Oh. As she reached for the last cup, she saw that the cup slot was empty. _There's gotta be another one around here somewhere_, she mused to herself, looking at the other cup slots. Hmm...all empty. This was not good.

_Oh no – wait, there's one!_ It was at the very top of the dispenser – a whole row of cups. Christine bit her lip - she didn't know if she was going to be able to reach it. She put the two cups down on the metal ledge and dropped her bag beneath her legs on the ground. Standing on her tip toes she stretched her arm up to try and grasp the edge of it, maybe just knock it out of its slot with the tip of her fingers...

And then all of a sudden a hand was reaching out from behind her, grabbing the cup easily.

"Need some help?" came an amused voice just above her ear. Christine turned around, and why was she not surprised?

"Oh – Captain," she said, feeling like she was altogether too close to her superior officer at the moment, who was looking very fine indeed this Monday morning, dressed in just his regulation black slacks and the black long sleeved undershirt, without his command gold on top.

"Chapel," he said, and as he said it Christine realized that Tonia and Helen were right, he _did_ say her name different. It came out all smooth and soft, kind of like a purr...

_No! _Her brain shouted, and her body jumped a little. _Omigosh, don't think about that for god sakes..._

She saw the Captain's eyes narrow a bit as one of his hands came to rest gently but firmly on her elbow. "What's up Chapel, you're all jumpy –" a beat later and his tone changed. "Anything I can help you with?" he asked teasingly.

"Oh," she half laughed, half breathed out. "No, It's fine, I'm just late. Well, about to be."

"Ah," he said. "Well here you go then," and held out the cup for her to take from his hand.

Christine smiled softly and moved to take the cup, her fingertips brushing his as she grasped it and turned back around to fill it with her own coffee (cream, no sugar).

He moved away only slightly as she turned back around to face him, and right at that moment Tonia and Helen barreled around the rounded corner of the buffet towards her.

"Let's get out of here Christie, I swear I've been contaminated by engineer swea-oh, Captain, good morning," Tonia let out, and the brunette obviously couldn't help herself because she sent a look to Christine that spoke of 'I_ told you so!'_

"Ladies," the Captain drawled out. "Where are you all headed?"

"Sickbay," the two of them answered in unison. Kirk made out like he hadn't known this and exclaimed, "what a coincidence! So am I, I'll join you."

"Well – actually Sir," Tonia started, looking quickly to Christine, "Helen – I mean, Lieutenant Noel and I actually have to make a quick trip to...the quartermasters, so why don't you just head on over with Christie?"

The Captain looked to Christine and smiled like the cat who caught the canary. "Now doesn't that sound like an idea."

Christine turned to Tonia and Helen, her eyes slightly wider than usual. "I didn't know you needed to go to the quartermasters," she said brightly, her voice soft and high but her tone succinct, as if to say _'You guys are so gonna get it'_.

"Yup! Well, we do," Helen added in. "So why don't you give me these..." she said, taking the coffee from Christine's hands "and be on your way!"

Kirk seemed ultimately pleased with this idea as he clapped his hands together once. "Great!" he exclaimed, that damned grin still on his face. "Come on Chapel, let's go," he continued enthusiastically, sort of like a little boy who's just heard he's going to the toy store, and began to walk to the lift.

Christine looked back at her friends with a narrowed expression, but they just waved maniacally at her as she turned to follow the Captain.

Christine (who still didn't like awkward silences) spoke up first.

"So, Captain," she chirped out softly, making her way through the throng of people, knowing she was going to be dreadfully late. "Why are you, uh-" she paused to make her way around an unaccommodating engineer, "headed to sickbay?"

"My throat hurts," he said simply. Christine was aware that she was giving him a look like her mother used to give her when she was little and fibbing about something. Her eyes would go wide and blinking, and her mouth would purse slightly.

"your...throat?" The Captain looked at her strangely.

"Yeah. My throat." Christine nodded her head up and down as they got to the lift. "Oh," she added simply.

"What?" The Captain asked, the corner of his lips turning up.

"Oh, nothing, that just – that – I wasn't expecting you to say that."

"What were you expecting me to say?" Ugh, why was he _draagggggging_ this out?

"Oh – nothing, Captain."

"Just not that."

"...Yes."

He seemed appeased for the moment and Christine let her shoulders relax a little. God, it was ridiculous how easily she got worked up whenever he was around. Not that she really showed it or anything, and not like she fawned all over him like _Janice_ did – ugh. _Janice._ She let herself ruminate in displeasure over the thought of Janice Rand when he spoke again.

"So you think about me a lot then, huh Chapel?" Christine tried hard, but she could not keep her eyes from widening as they waited for the lift to open.

"What??" she asked, trying to keep the hysterical out of her voice and keep calm and quiet. She managed it too, sort of. The doors opened.

"It's okay to admit it Chapel," he said, moving past her to get into the lift as she stood there wide eyed looking at him. He smiled teasingly, and she could see the point of his incisor before she got into the lift after him, turning to face the doors. "I don't bite, you know," he continued, and she knew, she just _knew_ he was fucking grinning. The doors chimed to let them knew they were about to close.

"Not unless you want me to, that is." The doors slid shut. Why did these things always happen to her???

She knew he was looking at her in the lift. She could practically _feel_ his eyes burning a hole though the back of her skull. But this was getting ridiculous. She needed to shape up – where was this nervousness coming from?? It wasn't like she was some young, inexperienced virginal whatever. She was Christine Chapel, head nurse of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Granted, she actually hadn't had a lot of contact with the Captain – the Enterprise hadn't seen an amazingly large amount of hostile action or anything like that, and most of the cases in sickbay were from engineering or the sciences department. She had spent most of this first month organizing and training the nursing cadets and helping Doctor McCoy in his few surgeries here and there – plus, keeping sickbay organized and efficient. Every once in a while she would see the Captain in the mess (which was a mystery to her – he had his own mess- why did he still use the general mess when he could eat by himself?) or in the hall...or in the lift. Or in the rec room.

Okay, so she did see him quite a bit. But to her credit, Christine knew that she never acted out of character when she was with him – until now, that was. Christine had never been a skittish kind of girl – just soft and introverted. That was often mistaken for timidity, but it wasn't, not really. She wasn't a nervous sort of person, and up until today hadn't acted like that with the Captain. But then Helen and Tonia had gone and made that stupid comment that he had a 'soft spot' for her.

Well what the hell did that mean?? Did he like her? And who cared? Certainly not _her – _it wasn't like she could date the captain anyways, even if she wanted to -which she didn't. She was just sexually frustrated, that was all. It was completely against Starfleet code of conduct, in the first place, too. And the Captain didn't have girlfriends, either; he just had 'girls'. Jesus, she knew that well enough from when they were still cadets. Jim Kirk would sleep with anything that had two legs and breasts, and she had no desire to be one of his conquests. Not that....he _wanted_ to...conquest...her. She knew for a fact that he was working his way through conquesting the female engineers at the moment anyways.

That was it. She was putting her foot down. She would be his Nurse first, above all other things. She would continue to act normally, just as she had been doing, and put all these thoughts of Jim Kirk and his broad shoulders and his blue eyes and his strong jaw line...

"Hey Chapel," his voice came from behind her. _Omigod okay – you are a sexy, confident woman, who is not attracted to Jim Kirk. Focus! You look that blue eyed bastard in the eyes and stop acting like a pre-teen!_

Christine turned around and looked at the Captain – really looked at him too, dead in the eyes – with a cheerful expression and a soft sweet smile. "Yes Captain?"

He looked a bit taken aback for a minute – it was like he kept expecting her to just flirt with him, or throw herself at him or give in, and every time she didn't it was some big surprise. He got that look on his face again like he was trying to solve something.

"Captain?" she asked again, still firm. _Yeah, that's right Christine. You are not some easily influenced, flirtatious first year Cadet - or Janice rand. You will not be Janice Rand!!_

He seemed to snap back at her voice. "Oh – nothing. You just looked really serious for a minute there. Everything okay?" _Ha ha, everything is peachy buddy, juuuuuust peachy._

"Yup – everything's fine." The lift chimed open on the medical deck. "Now let's get to seeing that throat looked at, hmm?" she asked sweetly, waiting for him to exit the lift with her.

_Ha ha take that! Chapel 1, Kirk 0. _

_**~tbc**  
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_well that's the first section of this two part fic. I hope you enjoyed, and a review would be wonderful! :) Before I sign off, there were four songs used in this fic, which I must disclaim no ownership of. The first was 'perfect day' by Hoku. The second was 'up town girl' by Billy Joel. The third was 'Breathe on me' by Britney Spears, and the last was 'got your number' by Nadia Oh. _

_-jb  
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	2. To fall

**A:N:** _hey guys! well, I just wanted to preface this by saying THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed! I write these stories for myself, but it's always nice to know someone else is reading and enjoying them. If you've put these stories on your favourites list or alerts, please drop me a line and tell me what you think! Reviews feed the soul, you know, and no author is too proud to ask for them, haha! This chapter introduces Kirk's PoV, and will be followed by one final chapter before I start the next sequel. Lastly, I own nothing you recognize, and some FAQ's are at the bottom. Enjoy! _

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_**Chapter 2:**_

_**To Fall**_

"Now let's get to seeing that throat looked at, hmm?" she asks him, all soft and sweet and she really truly sounds _concerned_ about him – just like any good Nurse should.

And that's the root of this whole fucking thing – this mini flirtation he's got going on with Christine Chapel, head Nurse.

See, she's sweet, right? Yeah, the answer is 'yes'. She's like the happiest, softest, sweetest thing there ever was. He knows because he hears it from everybody on board this fucking ship – especially Bones (that old softy, he knew it), who'll praise her often while he's nursing a glass of bourbon in Jim's quarter's late at night. Actually, when Jim thinks about it, that was _really_ what started it.

It had been late one night two or three weeks ago– really late too, like one in the morning, and Bones had just gotten off his shift. Jim had just gotten off the bridge as well, after a rather tense navigation through an unexpected asteroid belt, and they'd decided to wind down together as they often did. There'd been a small glitch in engineering which had turned into a small explosion, and some poor engineer had had a piece of the nacelle containment unit fly off and slice into his stomach.

Anyways (Jim kind of gets caught up on the details sometimes when he's telling stories in his head), the point was, was that Bones had been in his quarters telling Jim about how the surgery had went.

"But man – that Chapel," he'd said in this awed sort of tone, taking a swig of the amber liquid, scrunching his face up a little as he'd swallowed. Jim had looked up from his own glass at that – Chapel. He knew her – that cute strawberry blonde from the shuttle that he'd taken up to sickbay. "Goddamn," Bones had gone on, off in his own world. "That girl knows her way around a suture, that's for damn sure". And then he'd taken another drink and they'd moved onto something else.

But that had been it – for some reason he'd just gotten to _thinking_ about her, and it hadn't gone away. So after two days of hearing Bones repeat _"but man – that Chapel"_ in a reverent tone in his head, he'd decided to do what any smart person would do – he'd see what she was all about. Then he'd have some answers about her and she'd be a real _person_ in his head, as opposed to just "Christine Chapel, suturing wonder with the strawberry blonde hair and great legs". He'd flirt and she'd flirt back, and they'd sleep together and then he'd get bored and that would be the end of it.

So he'd gone about doing just that. But it hadn't really...worked out right. See, if there was one thing Jim Kirk knew about, it was women. And he knew that the best way to see what kind of woman someone was, was to get a reaction out of her. And the best way to get a reaction out of her was to flirt.

Shamelessly.

Which he did, and often. What? It's not like it's a crime.

Anyways, the problem was this – Christine never seemed to...well, _react_. See, for example, take Uhura. When he tries to flirt with Uhura, Jim honest to god expects a slap on the face most days, or at least an eye roll and an angry huff. It's cause Uhura is passionate – she can get angry real quick, and she's determined too. She's expressive and she knows what she wants, and by some of the insults she used to throw at him when they were Cadets, he knows she really _does_ have a talented tongue. All that, just from flirting.

But Chapel never reacts like that. And she doesn't react like...say, Janice Rand does, either. Janice is his yeoman, and he knows she's into him something fierce because when he flirts with her, her heavily lidded eyes rake up and down his body and her voice gets lower and it's always laced with the promise of innuendo. Simple, right? It's like math. And Jim was always good at math.

But Chapel, she's not...she's not displaying any of the regular _patterns_, which is making this harder than he thought. Christine's just _sweet_, and Jim swears to God he's repeated that fucking word in his head so many times it's just about lost all meaning. But her being sweet with him doesn't count as a reaction because it's not a deviation from her usual behaviour, see?

She doesn't get flustered or nervous like other girls do when he flirts with them - a_nother no._ But then again, she doesn't just lie down and take it, either – he can tell when she thinks he's crossing a line because she shoots him these little _looks _that seem to say _'I know what you're doing, and I also know it's not going to work.'_ And for all her sweetness she doesn't...she doesn't really flirt _back_ with him either. She's not a temptress; she doesn't bat her eyelashes at him or swing her hips or lower her voice or flip her hair when she's around him. She's just....sweet.

Goddamn, it was fucking frustrating!

Not that he was all hung up over this girl or anything – Christ, are you kidding? No way. If there was one thing Jim Kirk wasn't, it was a one woman man. At least – not _yet_, anyways. There were too many beautiful and willing women aboard this ship (who all reacted very strongly to him, _thankyouverymuch_) to get hung up over a girl like Chapel.

She was just...a nice distraction. A nice, interesting distraction who happened to have great legs and the sweetest, softest voice he's ever fucking heard. But that was all it was – Jim's been infatuated before, and this _isn't_ infatuation. It's just...a little puzzle, with attractive packaging. And it's not like he's actively _pursuing_ her or anything like that – he certainly hasn't been abstaining from...other areas of his life that he would need to abstain from were he pursuing her.

Which he isn't.

He doesn't dream about her body, or wonder what her skin might taste like right below her ear, or what she might sound like when he digs his fingers into her hip, or her thigh, like he does when he's really into somebody. Like he does with say...Mallory, in engineering, who has the most _amazing_ ass he's _ever_ seen on a woman. Seriously, it's out of this world. Pun _intended_. And yeah, he realizes that those things are pretty shallow but he's never had feelings for a woman that _weren't _shallow (at least mostly), so what's a guy gonna do.

He just....he _thinks_ about her is all. Not a lot, but just...sometimes. He'll finish on the bridge, or with supper or something and he'll think to himself, 'I wonder what Chapel's up to', and he'll smile because it's one more opportunity to see if he can get under her skin. Actually, when he thinks about, it's all pretty platonic. Mostly.

So when he sees her in the mess, stretching up to get the cup out of the dispenser and not quite reaching it, he can't help himself from going over there and helping her out. The top of her strawberry blonde hair reaches to just under his nose and she _smells_ good, and maybe he's a cocky bastard but he can't keep a grin off his face because he knows the next couple of minutes are going to be fun.

He just wants a _rise_ out of her – just _one_, honest, so that he knows she feels _something _for him. Jim doesn't really care _what_ somebody feels about him, just as long as they _do_ – he's never been able to stomach indifference, not since he was younger and his step father treated him like the miraculous invisible boy.

So he walks to the lift and she goes with him, with a little scheming from her friends. Not that she would have said no, anyways, but still. And then they get inside the small compartment and he's _really_ pushing it because he's going on about not biting unless she asks for it, and he can see her eyes (which are already fucking huge) widen _just_ a bit like she actually can't believe he said that, and then she's all quiet with kind of a stern look on her face. So he asks her what's up.

She looks him straight in the eye (which he isn't really used to because most girls tend to sort of look at him through their eyelashes or via sidewards glances and things like that) and smiles and says everything's fine, and it's really the same as usual except it's _not_, something's _different_, like right then and there she's decided to herself that up until this point she's been too lax with taking his crap and maybe she wasn't going to be so sweet about it when he's being deliberately difficult with her.

Or something.

Anyways, now they're walking to sickbay and he actually feels kind of bad because he knows she's late and it's his fault. They walk in, (she goes first) and Jim can see Bones gearing up like he's gonna tear a strip off of her, but then he sees Jim.

"Dammit Jim! What'd I tell you about staying away from my nurses!" he shouts out, but please – she's like five minutes late, _if _that, and Jim really _does_ have a sore fucking throat, okay?

"Geez Bones," he says, and is it weird that he always feels sicker once he _gets _to the hospital? He's about to open his mouth and say something else when he looks at Chapel out of the corner of his eye and she looks...wow, she looks kind of pissed, actually.

"It wasn't like that Chief," she says, and her voice is still soft, right, but she's doing this _thing _where the words come out a bit sharp and you can _tell _she is _not_ a happy camper. Jim (because he's a dumbass sometimes, yeah, he can admit that, what?) actually has to fight to keep the smile off his face when he sees Bones' reaction. The older Doctor looks affronted, like he wasn't expecting her to say anything back to him. But then he shakes it off and gets ready to shout something else when Chapel speaks again.

"The Captain's been complaining of a sore throat - did you want to take a look at him, or would you like someone else to diagnose?" Boom! Just like that, back to business, and Bones is standing there like he doesn't even know how this skinny red head was able to do that just then. He scowls a bit and turns to Jim like he isn't sure if he's faking it or not, but then gives in.

"Alright – take a seat at the end Jim, and just wait there – and for god sakes don't _touch_ anything, got it? Someone'll be with you in a minute. Chapel, in my office!" He barks out the last part of that and shit, now Jim _really_ feels guilty because Chapel's walking into Bones' office and if she gets in trouble it's gonna be on his shoulders.

The cadets in the room are all trying to be quiet, but McCoy isn't having any of that.

"What is this, the goddamn theatre?" he bellows out, with that crazed look on his face everybody's always talking about. "I want to see some quality Vertical mattress sutures when I get back out here to remind me you all went to medical school." And he storms into his office, closing the door behind him.

Maybe he'll talk to Bones after shift and let him know it was his fault that she was late...not that Chapel, you know, _needs_ him to or anything, but still. He's ruminating on this subject for a while, when he hears Bones' door open and Chapel comes out. The students have learned quickly not to stop what they're doing, but he sees Chapel's two friends from before give each other worried looks. He looks at her approaching him, and it's weird. He expected – well, he doesn't really _know_ what, actually. He kind of thought she'd be crying because when Bones gets going his voice could strip the bark off a tree, but she looks fine and Bones looks no worse for wear either, he just goes on over to a group of cadets and yells at them a bit for confusing vertical and horizontal sutures and don't they have their heads on straight.

Chapel comes up to him and smiles prettily, and he looks sheepishly at her. She gets busy pulling out some equipment and he wants to ask what happened (not that he cares a whole lot or anything, it's just that not knowing would drive him crazy) but he's not really sure how to bring it up.

In the end he settles on dry wit, because mouthing off will at least get him _somewhere _as opposed to sitting here wondering about it.

"So," he begins, his voice a little raspy. "I guess you're fired, huh? Zero tolerance on lateness right? When do we drop you off?" She looks up to him with a sort of softly amused expression like she knows he's joking but she isn't going to rise to it.

"Unfortunately not," she says, smiling a little, and Jim feels kind of lighter knowing that she's sticking around. "I suppose you're stuck with me for the time being," she finishes.

Well great- no harm no foul, right? So then why does he still feel so fucking guilty? Jesus it's not like they were an hour late or anything, it was like two minutes! Jim doesn't know when he got to be so fucking emotional about all this stuff, but before he can even send a message to his mouth to shut up he's already blurting out,

"Sorry."

Chapel looks up at him from where she's started to run the tricorder up and down him, checking for anomalies, or whatever.

Suddenly he's really interested in her reaction. She might scoff it off, rolling her eyes, or maybe she'd say something like 'well, you should be'.

"For what, Captain?" she says, and she's not doing any of that, she just looks curious. He knows he looks sort of confused, but he can't help it.

"For...making you late," he says as she puts the tricorder down.

"That's alright," she says, and suddenly she's moved closer to him. "You aren't feeling well, and I'm a nurse. That's what we're there for," she says, and Jim is just...completely dumbfounded.

She sounds totally sincere, like she really believes him and just wants to see him get better. It's weird; Jim's not used to this kind of _concern_ from people- and whoa, hey now, she's touching him.

He's sitting on the med bed and she's standing sort of in between his knees, and her hands have reached up to touch the side of his neck. She takes her thumbs and pushes into a spot just below his ear on both sides and he winces a little (just a little though, because he's Jim Kirk, not a fucking pansy). But she's just - she's just so _gentle_.

She isn't touching him like she wants to get him into bed – it's not sexual at all, which is actually more than he can say for most nurses who've ever attended him. But at the same time it's not strictly clinical either – when Bones patches him up after he's done something stupid he lets Jim know what he thinks by being...not rough, per se, but just...brusque.

Chapel's got the softest fucking hands he's ever felt and she's treating him like she's just genuinely concerned about him – not because she wants him or because she feels sorry for him, but just because he's a patient and she's a nurse and it's her job and she's happy to do it.

Jim isn't used to this - this kind of..._empathy_ from people, this kind of soft care that he's getting from this woman in front of him who's moving her fingers up and down, pressing hard here and there on the column of his neck.

It reminds him of things he doesn't really like to think about, from when he was young and things were still good with his mom. Chapel's still right in front of him, but thank god she's taken her hands off him now because he's a little (read: massively) embarrassed by this crazy reaction he's having. For fuck's sake, all she did was put her fingers on his neck for like two seconds! (But it's just so _different_ from how people usually treat him, that maybe that makes it okay).

He takes a minute to really look at her while she continues doing...whatever it is that she's doing in front of him, Jim doesn't really know. She's pretty – she's not sensual or anything like that, she's not the kind of girl Jim is usually attracted to. She doesn't have full pouty lips or dark eyes or anything – she's just...pretty. He notices it in a non sexual way, in a platonic way, as if he were looking at a painting, or something. She looks a little child like, actually. Not like – no, not like that you pervert – but just in how innocent and gentle she appears. Her skin is pale and smooth and she's got a smattering of tan freckles across the bridge of her nose. There's a flush on her cheeks and her lips are small and pink and her eyes are what really get him though, they make him feel stupid for how often he fucking thinks about them.

They're just so _big_ – they're doe eyes, Jim thinks; big and brown with long lashes and always, _always_ kind.

She looks up and smiles sort of sadly. "Well," she says softly, "you definitely have an infection – actually, it's a pretty bad one too. Your lymph nodes are inflamed and your tonsils aren't looking so great. Why didn't you come in sooner? You know it's never silly to get things checked if you're not feeling well," she adds, and her voice is melodic and kind of confused, like 'what the fuck is wrong with you, leaving this until now?'

Jim's never liked Doctors though - even Bones he sometimes has a hard time going to. It's just the idea of vulnerability, of somebody being in control of you when you're helpless...that's stupid, he knows, but he's always felt that way since he was a kid and he can't help it. He's not going to say that though.

"Well it didn't really hurt until this morning, so..." he trails off, sheepishly grinning. She gives him a kind of exasperated smile.

"Well, that waiting might just cost you your tonsils – weren't you inoculated when you were younger?"

_No, _he thinks_, my step father cared more about his stupid car than he cared about taking me to get my shots, but thanks for asking_.

"No, I guess not," he says instead. This is getting way too fucking sentimental, so he adds, "But you're free to inoculate me anytime you like, Chapel." He's grinning, and it feels comfortable to do that, to make quips and little sexual innuendo's.

She gives him that _look_ again, that little half smile that's half amused and half chastising, and then continues.

"That's alright, at least you came in," she says softly, like she wants to make sure he doesn't feel bad. "Doctor McCoy is going to have to make the final assessment though, so I'll just give you a hypo for the pain and he'll be with you soon, okay?"

Jim nods. "Sounds good."

She picks up a hypo delicately with her fingers and he can hear her humming lightly under her breath, something lilting and pleasant. She loads it and then turns back to him.

"Just tilt your head to the side, Captain," she says. Jesus, most people just fucking jab it into his neck, no head tipping. He does as commanded though, and her fingers are warm and soft on his neck again. "This'll just sting a little," she says, and gently but firmly presses the jet injector against the skin of his neck, allowing the pain medication intravenously into his system, and he starts to feel better as soon as she does so.

"There we go," she finishes, and gently smooths the area of skin she'd placed the hypo against. The action makes Jim swallow a little uncomfortably because he doesn't know how to react when people are this nice to him without wanting anything in return.

"All set," she declares. "You'll wait here, alright? The Chief has to finish up with someone else, but he'll be right over to look at your tonsils. And the next time you're not feeling well Captain, make sure you come see someone right away."

He's nods. "Will do, Chapel," he says, and he watches a small smile come to her face before she walks over to the pull curtain and tugs on it, separating him from the rest of sickbay. Then she's gone.

He turns around on the bed to glance surreptitiously through the little crack in where the pull curtain didn't close all the way, and sees her talking to a group of cadets. He can see how differently they react to her than they do with Bones – he scares them into submission with his gruff voice and his medical expertise; he's a great doctor, and they all want to be great doctors, after all. But Chapel has them smiling, laughing a little at something she's said as she begins to demonstrate something – he can't see because she has her back to him, but the cadets are watching intently and some are following – oh, it's the sutures they were practicing before. She's not two years older than most of them, but they respect her. There's no backtalk, they've just all fallen quietly in line.

Jim lets a smile come to his face. '_that Chapel'_ indeed, he thinks to himself, remembering how Bones had spoken of her. He doesn't – his feelings are all mixed up for her and it's an odd sort of sensation because they're mostly things like 'like' and 'respect' and 'friendship' instead of the usual 'sex', or...well – 'sex', when he meets a new woman he likes. He doesn't really have girls who're 'friends' - mostly because he'd slept with them all first. But he doesn't want to do that with Chapel, because then she might change around him and he wouldn't want that.

She's...soft, with him.

And it makes something in his chest ache, but in a good way.

Suddenly Bones flies in, starts telling him to open his mouth, turn your head to the side and dammit Jim, when are you gonna learn you have to come _tell_ me when you don't feel well, cause these are gonna have to come out now? He finishes with 'I'm a doctor, not a mind reader' and Jim can't help but start to laugh, even though it hurts his throat something fucking fierce. Whatever though – he's had a lot worse. (A _lot_ worse.)

Bones starts prepping him for surgery, which, oh, okay they're going to do right now, and he tells him to lie down, which he does. Suddenly there's another hypo at his throat, and Bones let's him know he's gonna sleep for a while.

That's alright – Jim likes sleeping. The drugs are making his head all woozy and numb and random thoughts are going through his head, with pretty much no sense at all. He thinks about Spock, and wonders how things are on the bridge since he'd left his first officer the conn. He thinks about the ice cream he's gonna get to eat once his tonsils come out, and he thinks about Mallory in engineering and if she'll play nurse for him once he's out of surgery. Damn, she had a _great _ass. What? It was true, geez.

And then lastly, he thinks about how much fun he's gonna have annoying Chapel for the day or two he'll be in sickbay for the post-op. That brings a smile to his face.

Sometimes, it was really great being Jim Kirk.

_**~tbc**_

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_**FAQ's:**_

_**1. What's up with Janice Rand?**_

_Good question! I needed a character who I could pit Christine against a little bit; someone who she doesn't quite get along with. I remembered that in TOS Janice rand was the Captain's yeoman (basically a personal assistant) and I thought she'd make a great foil in that I could create a little jealousy there. Janice could like the Captain, and because she sees so much of him, she'd be jealous of his semi-flirtation with Christine. This story is meant to be humorous too, so it's not meant to be a drmamtic 'janice Rand is evil' kinda thing. It's ship life, right? You see the same people everyday, every hour - sometimes you get along, sometimes you don't._

**_2. Hey - wasn't Christine traumatized like a month ago? She just broke up with her boyfriend! That's a pretty quick rebound._**

_haha, another good question. But remember - Christine *hasn't* rebounded - she's physically attracted to Kirk in the way that a lot of women (and men) probably are, because he's handsome and confident and he's got a great body, but she isn't emotionally tied to him at all. She's definitely not in the frame of mind to start dating anybody yet, so Kirk is sort of acting as a harmless fantasy that she can indulge in when she needs to. You're going to see how this relationship evolves, how she moves from this sort of harmless physical attraction to a friendship with him, and then maybe more.  
_

_**3. So what - is Kirk into her, or isn't he? **_

_I tried really hard not to make Kirk a 'gary stu' - he's a womanizing lothario, but Christine isn't the kind of woman he usually goes for. What I tried to portray in this PoV was that Kirk is confused about his feelings for her - he's not sexually attracted her (not really - he recognizes that he's attracted to her but he isn't lusting for her), and his thoughts about her are more comforting than anything else - she's very gentle with him and kind, which is something he hasn't experienced a lot of. I think that's what gets him the most, is that she reminds him of a lot of things from his past, and his own mother. So I've tried not to make the story go from 'first meeting, love, sex, done' - these characters have been through a lot of hardship, and that needs to be explored. So what we've ended up with (at least at the end of *this* chapter anyways, is a more platonic kind of puppy crush on Kirk's part, as opposed to love or lust. After all, he's currently chasing Mallory in engineering, haha ;)_

_**4. What does Christine look like?**_

_Well, you can see a picture of the original Christine on wikipedia, but I was actually inspired to write Christine after seeing Jayma Mays in 'Glee' - she's super adorable and prim and sweet looking, and that's what I wanted for Christine. But you're free to imagine her however you like!_

Anyways, that's all for now - stay tuned for the last chapter and more stories. And please, REVIEW! :)

-jb


	3. To land

**A:N: **_hello again everyone! First, a big THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed and put this story on their favorites list (over forty of you!)- it's really nice to see other people enjoying what you write. Second, this is the last chapter of 'TSanF' - but not to worry, because I've got a lot more Chapel/Kirk stories planned out, and bits of them written here and there already. As always, I own nothing you recognize and faq's are at the bottom. Enjoy!_

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_**Chapter 3: **_

_**To Land**_

The next morning Christine finds herself waking up much the same way she'd done the day before, repeating the same familiar pattern all over again. Her retro music, her shower primping, her getting dressed and meeting Helen and Tonia at the lift – all the same in that quietly comforting way in which routines often are.

There were _some_ differences though.

For starters, _she's _the topic of discussion in the lift on the way down to the mess; Helen and Tonia have it in their minds that she and the Captain had 'definitely hooked up', even though they had _been_ there the entire time the two of them had been in sickbay together. Plus, there was the fact that he hadn't even been conscious for most of it, the sedative knocking him out for much longer than it should have – _that _had been a debacle in itself until the Chief had realized that he'd used an opiate based sedative, to which Kirk apparently had adverse reactions to. Hey – you learn something new every day, right?

Anyways, Kirk had slept the day away, still asleep when Christine had left sickbay at the end of her shift.

Tonia and Helen had come to her room right after and demanded 'the deets' as Tonia put it (which was a totally ridiculous shortening of that word, by the way), even though there hadn't really been any except for Kirk's usual flirting, which he practiced on every female member of the crew - not just Christine.

But her two friends had been persistent, gossiping shamelessly about her and the Captain's supposed hook up all the way through their dinner that night and into this morning's mess meal, which is rightfully (and delightfully) free of engineering cadets once more. It isn't, however, free of Janice Rand, who gives Christine an especially frosty look to which she blatantly ignores.

_Whatever Janice Rand_, she thinks to herself. _Whatever. _

The three of them all go back up to sickbay _together_ this time, as is their usual – Christine (who certainly _hadn't _forgotten that her so called friends had _left_ her with Kirk to fend for herself against his innuendos) makes it a point to acknowledge this fact while they're still in the lift, but there isn't any bite to it - she sort of figures it had been for the best, in a weird sort of way - after all, the Captain really _had_ been sick.

It had surprised her, actually – she'd stormed into sickbay yesterday with the full intention of killing Kirk with kindness; not ONLY for making her late but also for daring to ensconce her in one of his little flirtation schemes while she was on duty. The _nerve_! Pretending to be sick – what was this, junior school? Sickbay, she told herself, wasn't a place to be taken so lightly. Off duty was another thing altogether, but doing it during her shift made her feel so _stupid_, like she was only there for his own enjoyment – like the work she did wasn't important.

_Well_.

Christine had news for him – no _way_ was she going to be made a fool of in her OWN sickbay. Seriously – she'd been really pissed. She wouldn't call herself angry or vindictive, but come on - she hadn't slaved through four years of medical school just to be used as a pawn in his little distractions. That was what Janice Rand was for. PLUS, what the hell had been up with the chief??

'_Dammit Jim! What'd I tell you about staying away from my nurses'_??? What the hell was that? As if she would EVER allow herself to be one of Kirk's conquests – pshh, _please_.

Not that sleeping with him would make her a _conquest_ - if _she_ knew full well the parameters of the arrangement then it would be totally mutual....after all, a girl could be sexually active with whoever she wanted to be, right? Maybe he'd be _her_ conquest.

Not that she wanted to conquest him, or anything! Fantasizing and flirting were nice distractions, but completely different from actual relationships...

_Whoa! Not that any of that matters at ALL, right???_ Christine scolds herself mentally as she walks with Helen and Tonia through the sliding doors into sickbay. The POINT was, was that the insinuation had been insulting, and she'd had a hard time keeping cool about it, speaking clippedly about Kirk's 'alleged' sore throat. *_Please*, what did he think this was...._

And THEN she'd had to endure the embarrassment of being called to the Chief's office in front of the other cadets! Only to have a chat (which really meant that the Chief had talked and she'd listened) about how she was one of his best nurses and he didn't want to lose her to Kirk's philandering ways, and how Jim was one of his best friends goddamit but sometimes he just couldn't keep it in his pants and she should be careful about protection and come to him if she needed....anything.

He'd been red cheeked by the time he'd finished speaking and she'd been absolutely MORTIFIED- okay FIRST of all, the idea that she'd just gotten a sex talk from the CHIEF was humiliating (although a large part of Christine's bleeding heart appreciated the fact that it had obviously come from a good place – traitorous feelings!!). And SECONDLY, even if she WAS having sex with Kirk (which she totally wasn't, and which there was no evidence he even WANTED to have sex with her, by the way), the Chief would be the LAST person she'd want to know.

God, he was old enough to be her _fa_-

_Oh._ Christine swallowed hard around that thought as she walked along the wall to the back of sickbay and placed her bag in one of the little plasma storage lockers there. That was...maybe not something she wanted to think about.

She was fine though.

Seriously.

_Anyways_, that wasn't even the point...

What was the point? Ugh, she's all flustered today...oh! yeah – the Captain. She'd left the Chief's office with a lot less steam, resolving to just be her kind, professional self. Even if he _had_ been faking, she wasn't going to let him get to her. She wasn't going to let one stupid tease affect the way in which she did her job, which was kindly, gently, diligently, and professionally.

And it had all been going along swimmingly until two things had happened.

First, he'd apologized, and it had seemed really genuine. Well, there went the rest of her anger. Christine never was the kind of girl to stay mad at someone for very long (except stupid Roger), and she wasn't going to start now.

"That's alright," she'd replied, her tricorder out. "You aren't feeling well and I'm a nurse. That's what we're there for." And she'd meant it, too. Nurses were there to help people. If he _was_ sick, that would comfort him. And if he _wasn't_ sick, maybe it would make him realize that this wasn't a joke. It was too hard trying to stay mad at him – it was easier to just be herself.

But then (and this was the second thing), it had turned out that he actually was sick! And not just 'I have a cold' sick, but real, full, blown out, SICK.

She'd been looking at the tricorder and honest to god could not believe it. He'd been telling the truth, and she'd been all hissy about it...

She was a nurse first – she was supposed to have no judgements. Well, she'd really been doing well so far, hadn't she?

The tricorder had read advanced tonsillitis and an inner ear infection – that would have taken _days_ without medication to get to that level – maybe a week or more. Why hadn't he come in sooner? It had to hurt – it had to hurt _a lot_, actually. But he was so nonchalant about it... why had he decided to suffer with it? Had he thought that a better alternative to coming and getting it checked? Was it her? Was he not comfortable around her? A sharp pang had gone through her at that thought. People shouldn't ever be embarrassed about their sicknesses; they shouldn't ever feel like they had to hide them from her - or any _other_ nurse or doctor for that matter. The sad truth of it though, was that people often _did_ feel those ways. That was why Christine had become a nurse in the first place – yes, obviously because she enjoyed helping people, but also because they opened up to her; they trusted her. She was a natural at it. The idea that someone might be uncomfortable with her as their nurse had made her feel genuinely sick to her stomach. And it hadn't been out of pride, but just out of empathy and....guilt. A big fat _slab_ of guilt in fact, that had settled itself on her shoulders at that point – _some nurse she was, immediately thinking he was faking it..._she couldn't believe she'd let personal feelings get in the way of her objectivity. It was a small infraction, but she'd always been an emotional person and it had made her feel kind of...sullied, in a way, like she hadn't been a proper nurse to doubt someone when they said they were ill.

She didn't say any of that though, and in the back of her mind she knew she was blowing this _way _out of proportion, but for some reason she'd become very emotional about it. Plus, She'd needed to check his lymph nodes first to see if they were inflamed before she was sure of the diagnosis. She'd moved up to where he'd been sitting on the med bed and begun the physical examination, being as gentle as she possibly could, knowing that it would hurt him while she did it. The idea of somebody not being comfortable with her as their nurse ate at her, swirling angrily around the bottom of her stomach, so she'd tried to be as soft and accommodating as possible to compensate.

He'd been really quiet during the whole thing and that had made her feel even _worse_. So she'd stopped the exam, satisfied with her findings, and started the usual 'you've got so and so', keeping her voice soft and steady so as not to alarm him or make him feel uncomfortable, which he obviously had to be, what with how _still_ he'd gone.

"You definitely have an infection," she'd begun softly. "Actually, it's a pretty bad one too. Your lymph nodes are inflamed and your tonsils aren't looking so great. Why didn't you come in sooner? You know it's never silly to get things checked if you're not feeling well." She shouldn't have even asked that last part, but it was like she couldn't help herself. She needed to know if it was because of her, if he was uncomfortable with her.

"Well it didn't really hurt until this morning, so..." he'd trailed off, and then grinned sheepishly. _Oh, thank god,_ she'd thought to herself. _There_ was the Jim Kirk she knew and interacted with, the one with the grin. She'd probably just been over reacting about the whole thing, right? Right. Obviously.

...Probably.

So she'd let herself give him a little smile, a slightly chastising one.

"Well, that waiting might just cost you your tonsils – weren't you inoculated when you were younger?"

"No, I guess not," he'd answered, and then added, "but you're free to inoculate me anytime you like, Chapel." He'd grinned fully after that, and she'd returned it. It had been like a weight off Christine's chest. He probably hadn't even been aware of the inner turmoil she'd been going through. Looking back the whole thing in her head had seemed rather silly – after all, if he hadn't wanted her to tend to him, he wouldn't have sought her out.

She'd gone back to her usual self after that remark (less apologetic, more cheerful) and had administered the rest of his exam with a smile that was real and not worried. And maybe, yeah, okay, she'd liked being able to take care of him a little. He just always seemed so self assured most of the time that it was nice to be able to do this for the guy who'd saved all their lives.

It hadn't been sexual at all – sure, Jim Kirk was a really good looking guy, but she'd been so worried about her own performance as a nurse and wanting him to be comfortable in sickbay and to trust her as his medical professional that the only thing she'd been focusing on (even when she'd been pressing her fingers against his neck) was taking care of the patient the best way she knew how – with the medicine available to her and a little old fashioned TLC.

And before she's left, she'd told him- the next time he was sick he should come see someone right away. It didn't have to be her. It could just be anyone. It would be fine if it _was_ her, but whatever...

Anyways he'd said 'will do' and grinned one more time and she couldn't help but smile back. All her worries had been for nothing! One more patient on his way to recovery. A job well done, and a lesson learned.

And that was where she found herself now, back in sickbay, with Kirk still there on his post-op recovery. Her shift doesn't start for another few minutes so she busies herself checking stock as Tonia heads to the chiefs office and Helen begins setting up for her first appointment – _broken wrist rehabilitation...no biggie_, apparently. She goes through some restock forms, tidies, and checks the roster of cadets for her shift today on her PADD.

She can see Kirks bed out of the corner of her eye, with the pull curtain closed around it. She really wants to go over there – not because she wants to see him or anything, it's not like its personal, it's just she'd like to check on him.

It's totally platonic. Mostly.

_Don't go over there, don't go over there, don't go over there _she repeats in her head, but is still unable to keep from glancing surreptitiously at the curtain.

_Ugh! Why are you turning this into a dramafest, you're almost as bad as Janice Rand _the voice in her head sounds. And that voice is totally right – after all, she's a nurse. And he's a patient. If she wants to go over there and check on him, well, what's so wrong with that?

She really _is_ concerned about him, in a strictly patient/nurse kind of way.

...mostly.

She looks at the clock. _5:57 AM_.

Christine bites her lip and looks back at the bed. Then back at the clock. Then back at the bed. She quickly checks his medical record that's been uploaded to her PADD – no life threatening injuries, the drug's out of his system as of the middle of the night....no pressing need to check on him right now.

She'll wait until later.

*****

6:17 AM:

The cadets have assembled, and they're waiting for Christine to tell them what to do. They're all so adorable – they remind her of when she was a bright eyed bushy tailed nursing cadet.

Not that she isn't bright eyed and bushy tailed _now_...fuck it's not like she's _old_, god, she's only twenty two....

The thought makes her feel weird though, and she obviously makes a face because one of the cadets (a pretty blonde named Parker) comments on it.

"What's wrong, Nurse Chapel?"

"...what?"

"Your face got all scrunched up. Aren't we on time?"

"Oh...no, you're all fine. My nose was just...itchy. _Any_ways, you'll find your assignments on your pads, so why don't you get to them, okay?"

They disappear and Christine stands in the same spot for a minute, frowning slightly.

She is _not_ old.

She looks over at Kirk's bed longingly – not a peep from him yet. He must still be sleeping.

_Sigh_.

****

7:32 AM

"Nurse Chapel?"

"Yup?"

"My patient needs a rectal exam."

"Alright."

"...."

"....did you...need something?"

"Oh, uh – no. I was just umm...I thought maybe someone else might do it."

"....no, you're going to have to do it, Sam."

"...really?"

"....yeah, really."

Christine quickly checks Kirks vitals again on her PADD. Jesus, how long can this guy sleep??? And why is this day turning out to be so weird??

*****

9:46 AM:

Christine's starving, and since sickbay seems under control she asks the Chief if she can head to the mess for a quick bite.

"Yeah, alright," he says, and Christine isn't expecting it.

"Oh, well that's okay the-oh, really?"

"You got a hearing problem all of a sudden, Chapel?"

"...I'll just be going then."

_Somebody _woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning....

****

9:49 AM:

Christine makes it to the lift only to find _Brad_ the engineer already in there.

_Ugh._

Brad, who always said his name with an emphasis, was a senior level engineer from Texas who'd had his sights set on her ever since she'd boarded the ship. He was good looking, in a beefcake, 'I eat 10 eggs for breakfast and protein shakes for lunch' sort of way, with lots of muscle and a patriarchal attitude.

He'd asked her out dozens of times, and she always politely declined (_oh, I've got a dentists appointment, I've got to wash my...dog_ - actually, thinking about it now, maybe her passive aggressiveness wasn't working so well here...) but he never got the hint. It was fine up until a certain point, but after that it just got uncomfortable.

"Well, well," he says smoothly, like he's crooning. "If it isn't everybody's favourite Nurse."

Oh,_ god...._

"Hi Brad," she says softly and pleasantly, entering the lift and turning to face the doors.

"You know, it has been _way_ too long since I last saw your pretty face," he drawls. "What do you say we remedy that in my quarters later on, hmm? Some music, some dinner, some wine..."

"Oh, you know, that's so sweet of you to ask, but I've actually got a super late shift tonight."

That should deter him.

"How about I talk to ol' McCoy for you, then, hmm? I'm sure he'd understand." _Oh my GOD is this guy serious?? _

"....well, I'm not sure _the Chief_ would respond so well to that," Christine said, deliberately emphasizing the Chief's title.

The doors to the lift opened on the mess, and Christine quickly stepped out. "Bye Brad!" she called out pleasantly, rushing a bit to the mess counter. Whew! Crisis averted....for now.

"Well hey there, Nurse Chapel!" A pleasant, thickly accented Indian voice calls out from behind the counter as she approaches.

"Hi Muhar," she says. "slow day?"

"Seems like it," he answers. "Oh well – better for me," he laughs on. "What can I get you?"

"Just something light?"

Muhar nods, and then points his finger at her. "I know just the thing," he says, and briefly disappears behind a large stainless steel...contraption. He tinkers with something for a minute, and then heads back to her, holding a large cup with pink-ish orange-ish thick liquid inside. "Have a smoothie! It's a new recipe – strawberry, banana, orange and a special ingredient!"

"Oh!" she exclaims, a bit startled at his vehemence as he thrusts it at her. It looks good, though. "Thanks Muhar, it looks great," she says, taking it from him and turning to walk away.

"Let me know what you think!" he yells out from behind her as she heads back to the lift.

"Sure thing!" she calls back cheerfully, waving at him just as she enters the doors – and runs into Janice Rand. Christine knows her eyes are wide, and she blinks once before fully stepping in.

"Hi Janice," she says, her quiet voice sounding genial and only _slightly_ clipped.

_Hmph -Janice Rand._

"Chapel," she responds a bit cattily, cutting her eyes at her.

"How're things?" Christine offers, not really wanting to speak but she's got that whole thing about awkward silences, right, so she can't really help herself. Plus, okay, it would be totally rude to be in the lift and not speak to her. _Ugh, traitorous polite instinct!!_

But Janice seems to like the question, her eyes lighting up as she turns to face Christine. "Oh, they're great!" she says joyfully, with a smug look on her face. Then she starts as if she'd just remembered something. "Oh! Hey, you're going back to sickbay, aren't you?" she asks.

"Yup," Christine offers, not quite sure where this is going...

"Well, would you be a _doll _and let the Captain know I'll be up to visit him soon, and also that I'd _love_ to go to dinner with him tomorrow night, and that he's a sweetheart for asking?"

Christine can't help the weird feeling that settles in the pit of her stomach. _Ugh – the Captain asked out Janice Rand??? He must have worse taste than I thought..._she takes a demure sip of her smoothie, and schools her face into a pleasant expression.

"Sure thing, Janice," she replies, smiling cheerfully. Janice seems annoyed by her lack of reaction, and gives her a snide little smile as she exits the lift on her deck. The doors swish shut behind her and Christine is alone again.

Whatever. It doesn't even matter. It isn't like she'd want to date the Captain anyways.

Obviously, she has better things to do with her time than be a Janice Rand substitute.

_...Obviously._

Christine takes another big sip of her smoothie – it does taste good, but there's a flavor in it Christine doesn't recognize...it's kinda....tangy? Whatever, who cares. It's just a stupid smoothie.

She exits the lift at sickbay and drinks the rest of it quickly, throwing out the empty container into the trash receptacle to be made into something else.

Ugh. It's only 10:03. Why is this day going by so slowly????

****

11:00 AM:

It's eleven AM on the dot, and Christine thinks that's a good a time as any to check on Kirk. Right? She's been there for like five hours now, and she hasn't checked on him. It's not because she doesn't _care_, it's just...well, she doesn't want to...you know, favour him, or anything. Yeah, that's it. Plus, other nurses have been checking on him the whole time – he's got all the attention he needs. But hey, she ought to just see him for a minute, makes sure he's doing fine...

She's about to walk over there when all of a sudden the comm sounds. It's Commander Spock, ordering sickbay personnel to the transporter room to receive wounded.

"Come on, Chapel," McCoy's gruff voice sounds from behind her, and then there's no time to think about Kirk because they're already out the door.

****

12:27 PM:

An hour and a half later, the engineers they'd sent down to whatever small planet it was that they were at (seriously, Christine could hardly keep track of what section of the _galaxy_ they were in, let alone what _planet_) to help fix....something for the...something group of people...(she should probably pay more attention to those things though, now that she thinks about it) are all stable, after an altercation with hostile forces.

Something about a language dispute? Whatever, it didn't really matter what the details were – a doctor didn't care _why_ you got shot, just that you _did _and needed assistance. One of the engineers (poor guy, he was cute, too) had been hit with a kind of gas ball - some chemical substance that had done a serious number on his nervous system - and gone into a coma. He had burns all over his body from the substance and his prognosis wasn't good.

The other engineers only had minor injuries; some phaser wounds and one of them had a fractured wrist, but nothing too serious, which was a relief.

Christine was sitting on a spare med bed, her back up against the wall, in one of the sickbay supply rooms. They were large bunkers of materials, with rows of storage and lighting that came on as you walked through. The room was quiet and sparsely lit and calm, which was what Christine needed after an hour long surgery to repair the engineers facial nerves.

An hour long surgery wasn't very long at all, but the work was ridiculously intricate, which was straining after a while. The Chief had done excellently though, and Christine found herself thinking (not for the first time, either) how lucky she was to be serving under him – even _with _his brash demeanour.

"Christie?" someone called, startling her out of her thoughts. She turned her head, and saw Tonia standing in the doorway.

"Hey, Christie!" Tonia called again, walking towards her.

"Hey," Christine offered, smiling.

"What's up girl, what're you doing back here?" Tonia asked as she reached her.

"Nothing, really. Just wanted to relax, I guess...it was a hard surgery," Christine answered. Tonia gave her a critical look.

"Are you sure?" she asked, "you don't look so great, sweetie." Christine frowned slightly...come to think of it, she _was _feeling a bit odd...her stomach was bothering her. It was probably nothing, though.

"I'm fine," Christine said, smiling brightly. Tonia gave her another look, but dropped it.

"Alright then, come on – it's lunch!" A nauseas feeling washed over Christine at Tonia's sentence. _Maybe not_.

"Uh...no, you know what? Go without me, I promised the Chief I'd...take another look at Cadet Abara's CT scan results." Tonia looked like she didn't quite buy that, but let it go.

"Alright...well, we'll be back soon...come down if you're finished, kay?"

"Sure thing," Christine answered as Tonia walked off. Her stomach twinged and she inhaled sharply, pressing her palm to it. It soon faded though, and Christine walked back into sickbay.

Probably just indigestion.

*****

1:52 PM:

Christine's checked Cadet Abara's CT scans, diagnosed two flu patients and put them under solitary (on a ship this size, a flu was NOT something you wanted getting around), and gone around to every patient currently receiving short term (24-28 hours) or long term (48 hours and more) care and made sure they were comfortable.

Well – every patient except the Captain, that is. Which, she's starting to think is totally ridiculous. She should check on him – she's the head nurse! Isn't it negligence not to??

But every time she looks over there, there's another nurse going in or coming out from the pull curtain, so it'd be kind of silly to go in there when she knows he's being taken care of....

Plus, okay, it wasn't really hurting that much before, but her stomach is like, _legitimately _killing her. Seriously. She's about to ask for a break when the Chief calls her name.

"Chapel!" he snarls out, with a similarly un-amused look. "I need to take a conference transmission from the USS Achilles in my office – it'll take awhile, considering the new CMO aboard the ship is practically as green as a damn spring day. You're in charge, got it?"

She nods a bit frantically. He gives her a weird look.

"I'm giving you my patients for the next hour or so – and for the love of god try not to let anything blow up or catch on fire while I'm gone." And just like that he walks off.

_Well. _

Suddenly Tonia's next to her. "Hey sweetie, here's the Chief's patient list." She's got kind of a funny look on her face, and Christine gets suspicious.

"...what're you giving me that look for?"

"Nothing," Tonia answers, before correcting herself. "I mean-what look?" _Nice save – not._ "Anyways," she goes on, "I've gotta run, so have fun with your paaaaaatiiennnnttss!" She sing songs out the word 'patients' and skips off, leaving Christine alone with the PADD.

She looks down. First patient?

_Kirk, James T._

Oh, obviously.

*****

1:56 PM:

Christine excuses herself to the washroom, and throws some water on her face. She swallows back a groan as her stomach cramps again, and presses her palm against it once more.

Ugh, this was really perfect timing, too.

She looks over herself once – hair? Good. Makeup? Good....okay. Good.

Time to check on the Captain.

...not that it was like...a big event, or anything.

*****

2:03 PM:

Christine walks out of the washroom and heads steadily towards the Captain's bed. _Calm, steady, calm, steady, calm, steady...._

She takes one deep breath before stepping through the gap in the pull curtain –

Which is when all hell breaks loose.

First of all, the Captain isn't alone. No, he's got Janice Rand _on top of him_ with her tongue stuck down his throat. Christine's mouth actually hangs open, and she can't suppress an incredulous gasp.

Which, of course, alerts the two occupants of the bed to her attention. Janice screams bloody _murder _at the surprise and the Captain has a sheepish expression on his face.

"Nurse Chapel, so good to see you," he says, grinning. Christine actually can't do anything but glare in absolute shock.

Janice huffs angrily. "Don't talk to her!" she yells (still on top of him), and the Captain responds with "Wha –she's the nurse!" but he's half laughing.

All of a sudden the Chief storms into the scene, alerted by Janice Rand's crazy screaming and starts yelling at the Captain all sorts of things like '_goddamit Jim this is sick bay not a goddamn hotel room', _and '_what is it about 'bed rest' and 'relaxing your throat muscles' that you don't understand??'_ and then he gets to Janice Rand. _'And YOU, Ms. Rand, you should be ashamed of yourself, coming in here, disturbing one of my patients – the Captain needs REST not a goddamn booty call, and is that the proper conduct of a yeoman officer aboard this ship??'_

Suddenly Christine feels a wave of nausea sweep over her. _Oh, god...._ "I'm going to throw up," she lets out, her eyes closed and her hand clutching her abdomen.

"Well put, Nurse Chapel," The Chief says, but he doesn't get it.

"No, I mean – I mean _I'm really going to throw up!" _she says before she bolts away from the bed and _just_ makes it to the sink before throwing up a surprisingly large amount of pink-y, orange-y smoothie.

"What the-Jesus Chapel!" The Chief says, and Christine looks back at him only to see him, the Captain, and Janice Rand with the exact same half disgusted look on their faces.

Christine throws up again.

*****

7:22 PM

After another five hours of throwing up, Christine is finally feeling a bit better. Food poisoning is what it was – turned out that the 'secret ingredient' in the smoothie Muhar had made her was replicated Tamarind – except, he hadn't done it properly, and instead of Tamarind, he had gotten something...else. The molecular structure had been off, which is what had caused the intense bout of food poisoning.

She'd been diagnosed rather quickly, and had been sent back to her quarters to wait it out.

Which had been just as pleasant as it sounds.

The Chief had scolded her, saying that the next time she felt sick she should _call in sick_, not try and work.

At least he gave her the next day off, though. Score!

Plus, she totally deserved it after having to see Janice Rand practically dry humping the Captain.

_Ugh_.

That made her stomach turn more than the food poisoning.

She's absolutely exhausted, and is about to take a shower before going to sleep – which will hopefully be uninterrupted by vomiting – when the door chimes.

She furrows her eyebrows – Tonia and Helen had already been by to see her for a bit, and Uhura sent her a 'get well soon' transmission.

_Oh god, what if it was Brad???_

She goes to the door expecting the worst, but is instead greeted by one of the bridge ensigns....Chekol? Chekor? Oh, no – it was....Pavel? Yeah, that sounded right.

"Hello Nurse Chapel," he says pleasantly, the expression on his young face earnest and his accent thick.

"Umm..hello. It's uh...Pavel...right?" she says, her voice hoarse from the nights activities.

"Da," he says, nodding his head. "I am sorry to disturb you, but I am bringing you somesing that vill wery much help you vith your sickness."

Well, she hadn't been expecting _that._

"Oh! Umm, wow, that's so thoughtful. What...is it?"

"Eet ees old fashioned remedy from Russia," he says. "Eet ees Apple Cider Winegar – tastes wery bad, but vorks wery well. You dreenk little bit, yes?"

He holds out the container to her, and she takes it from his hand. "Yes, I will. Thank you," she says quietly and pleasantly, and (oh god, this is so cute) the ensign actually blushes. He blushes!

"Eet ees no problem," he says, and turns to go, when Christine stops him.

"Oh – Pavel, wait – how, umm...how did you even know I was sick?"

"Eet vas the Keptin," he says. "Ee vas speaking of your sickness ven he came back to ze bridge, and I simply mentioned this remedy. Ee told me I should bring to you."

Christine can't help the stupid little smile that forms on her face. She thanks Pavel who waves goodbye, and then heads back into her quarters. A beeping sound from her PADD lets her know she has a message.

She puts the liquid down on the table and grabs the PADD, scrolling down to read it.

_Hey Chapel,_

_It tastes like shit but actually works. _

_-Jim_

_P:S: get better soon._

Maybe today wasn't so bad after all.

**_~fin._**

* * *

**FAQ's:**

**1. Christine seems different in that scene from when Kirk was telling it - what gives?  
**

_Well, the first thing you need to keep in mind is that in a story, you can never trust the nararator! Kirk was giving us *his* view of Chritine - she seems much more angelic and perfect than she is in real life, right? Because he isn't used to being treated like that. But Christine is worried about toally different things in that scene, thinking about totally different stuff. She was concerned that Kirk didn't come in sooner because maybe he didn't want her as his physician._

**2. That seems kind of like an over reaction.**

_It is! But remember- Christine isn't in a good state of mind right now - her father just died 2 months ago, but with everything that's been going on, she hasn't had any time to deal with it. So we're starting to see some cracks, especially here, in sickbay, surrounded by people with medical problems. She's a little too emotional. She's denying it, but she's going to need to deal with the fact (for example, when she compares Bones to her father, she says she's fine - but really, as the reader, we know she's not). This is a big hint to the plot of the next story!!_

**3. Jim and Janice Rand?? I thought he loved Christine, WTF??**

_haha, while Jim certainly feels SOMETHING for Christine, it's NOT love - we've got a looooooooong way to go yet, and in the meantime, he's gonna do what he does best; be a womanizing lethario! To not have him seek out women would be against his character - Jim Kirk isnt going to change just because christine was nice to him that one time._

**4. Janice Rand is a huge bitch - what gives?**

_well, remember what I said about trusting the nararator - we're seeing he through Christine's eyes, which is a biased opinion. We're going to get to know more about Rand in the future. _

So that's it for this story! Hopefully you all enjoyed it and will continue to follow the adventures of Christine. :)

To everyone who favorited this, PLEASE REVIEW! It's always weird when tons of people favorite but none review - it'd be nice to hear what you think, and constructive criticism is welcomed!

-JB


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